Discrepancies
by Bella The Strange
Summary: Spend enough time around aliens and you become like them... some of us sooner than others. AU after End of Time part one... and HUGE spoilers, will make no sense if you don't watch BOTH episodes first.
1. Discord

**Disclaimer**: If it was mine, I wouldn't need to be writing this... you'd be watching it on TV.

**Author's Note**: _End of Time_ brought up way too many questions in my mind that weren't answered. Most of them are presented here in one form or another. The rest of this is, well... wishful thinking.

x x x

_"D, world destruction,  
><em>_Over and overture,  
><em>_N, do I need,  
><em>_Apostrophe T,  
><em>_need this torture?"_

_ -Common Rotation, Don't Lets Start._

x x x

**Chapter 1: Discord**

x x x

Gwen and Rhys were at home, together. Alone. Tomorrow was Christmas, and they would have the severe displeasure of visiting family-members that didn't get on with each other, of exchanging more libellous pleasantries than actual gifts... followed by one of Rhys's culinary masterpieces once they escaped that hell.

But for now, it was one of those quiet evenings in, where the rest of the world really didn't matter at all. Where they could forget about everything bad that had ever happened, and just enjoy being together.

And oh boy were they enjoying themselves. Gwen was honestly amazed at Rhys's continued talent for romantic spontaneity... somehow managing to make a quickie on the couch before dinner seem like the sweetest romantic gesture of this soon-to-end decade.

She should have known it was too good to last.

Rhys started to shake his head, and he seemed really disoriented. She looked up at him with concern, but just before she could ask if he was okay, things got really weird. His head looked like it was spinning, really fast... even the Exorcist didn't get this good a special effect, and she screamed.

"Rhys!" she tried to sit up or at least back away from him, but... well, between his beer-belly and her bump, he was sort of pinning her. Then all of a sudden he fell down on top of her... but he wasn't Rhys.

She was so horrified that she couldn't find her voice to scream, now... staring up at an unfamiliar face where her husband had been mere seconds ago. And it wasn't just the face that was different... his body was fitter, skinnier. She tried to get away from him, but his hands were on her shoulders now, as he stared down at her, a slightly confused frown on his not-unattractive face.

"Well this is unexpected." he said, before laughing. A mad sort of laugh that made her want to slap some sense into him. Except now she was practically petrified, and wouldn't have been able to even if he hadn't been holding her down. "Oh, I am _so _ glad you're not human." he laughed, sitting up properly now, and letting her go.

Gwen scrambled away quickly, fixing her clothes and staring at this intruder with shock and disgust, "What are you talking about?" she demanded angrily. She went to stand up- to get her gun from the drawer in the bedroom- but he caught her by the waist, causing her to shriek in fear. His hand over her mouth stopped her short.

"Shh, listen to me. Just listen." he insisted, pulling her back down onto the couch, next to him. Very reluctantly, she stopped fighting, turning to glare at him as he let go of her again.

As she settled nervously at the far end on the couch, she realised he was looking down at his own clothes, "A Simpsons t-shirt, are you kidding me?" he asked, bemused, pulling the t-shirt out to its full width, to see just how ridiculously too-big it looked on him... before glancing at the now quite loose ring on his left hand, "You actually married this man?"

Gwen cleared her throat sharply, "You said listen. Start making sense, then." she insisted angrily, arms folded and her best intimidating stare aimed his way, full-force.

He grinned, "Alright. Short version." he said, utterly unperturbed by the stare that would always make Rhys bend to her authority, "I- that is, the original me- activated a genetic manipulation device, attuned to human DNA. End result, every human on this planet is now, well... me." A bright grin lit his face, now, "And you have no idea how happy I am that you're not human."

"Why's that, then?" Gwen asked coldly.

"It could have been very painful... messy... disfiguring. Possibly for both of us." he admitted, shrugging, "Don't think I thought that part through... really should have, but find me an instant in time when the entire planet is abstinent... just not gonna happen." He winced, "Almost pity the rest of... me." he muttered, seeming unsure whether he should have said 'me' or 'us'.

"But why- why would anyone do something like this?" Gwen cried, utterly horrified at this entire situation, and subconsciously moving her hand to her abdomen. His eyes followed her hand now, and he seemed to be thinking.

"To destroy the human race." he said, with an idle shrug as if this was perfectly normal.

"Oh... you're one of _those_ aliens." Gwen muttered darkly, really not sure if she should take his word for it or not, but she'd go with it for now, as she seemed to have little choice. "But I am human."

"You're not." he said bluntly, "We wouldn't be talking like this if you were. In fact... I think you'd be dead."

"D-dead? Not just... turned into- into you?" she asked nervously.

"Mmhm. In theory, that-" he pointed to her belly, "Might have killed you. Possibly." he shook his head, "Maybe... I'm not sure. Like I said, though... messy."

Gwen cringed, horrified at the very thought, and was so busy trying desperately _not_ to think about it that she barely noticed as he shifted to sit closer to her. At least, not until he was leaning in close to her neck, and sniffing her. She jumped, startled, "What are you doing!"

"You smell like Nostrovite." he said with almost gleeful surprise.

"I- I what?" she asked, horrified.

"You were bitten by a Nostrovite?" he asked, grinning now.

She nodded, stunned, "Of course, you know that, it was at our wedding... Jack made a joke about it eating half the guest-list."

"No. I'm not your husband." he said darkly, "I can only tell because I can smell it in your blood. A few racially recessive elements of your DNA were corrupted by the bite. Made you a compatible host, but didn't change anything else of importance." He met her eyes now, fascinated... and she leaned back, away from him, onto the arm of the couch, "That's why you weren't turned."

Something in his eyes was incredibly unsettling, a sort of hunger... but then he sniffed once more, this time at the air, "Mmmm, what smells so good?" he asked.

"You- uh, I- I mean Rhys, my husband- was cooking dinner." she said, pointing towards the kitchen. His eyes lit up and he actually kissed her, before leaping from the couch and charging into the kitchen.

Gwen darted quickly into the bedroom, retrieved her gun and hid it at her back, in the waistband of her jeans. Then made her way into the kitchen.

By the time she got there, the spaghetti bolognaise that she and Rhys had been planning on sharing- for up to three nights' dinners, judging by how much he cooked in one go, and his unnatural ability to make leftovers taste just as good as the first night they were cooked- was in one big bowl on the kitchen table, and this intruder was _devouring _ it.

Gwen stared in amazement, "You're hungry, then?" she asked nervously, standing on the far side of the table, forcing herself to keep her hands at her sides, instead of folding her arms defensively... it was easier to reach her gun, this way.

"Mmm." he quickly swallowed the mouthful of food he had just taken, and looked up at her with a frightening grin, "Starving."

"Yeah, well touch those pickles in the fridge, Mister, and you'll be missing body-parts." she warned, only half-joking.

He glanced at the fridge, almost dismissively in favour of the hot food before him, then his eyes drifted to her stomach, once more, "Those are all yours, love." he said, before continuing to eat at an alarming rate. "And it's Master."

"What?" Gwen asked, confused now.

"My name..." he said, giving her a blank sort of look as if this should have made perfect sense to her, "Master... not Mister."

"Master?" she repeated, "Bit dramatic, isn't it?" she muttered, not sure if she even intended him to hear that or not.

"Just a bit." he mumbled, before taking another bite of the food.

Gwen stared at him, confused, frightened and a bit hurt that he was ignoring her now. He may not be anything like Rhys, but somehow she still felt like he should be.

She sighed sadly, and crossed the kitchen to turned on the TV, jumping in shock when she saw the same face there... wearing the women's suit that the newsreader usually wore. She glanced at the man who was stealing her Christmas-eve dinner, startled at the resemblance... and at this piece of evidence that he might actually be telling the truth.

The one on the TV was laughing like a madman, and she felt very little doubt that that was the perfect word for him. She changed the channel. A different newsreader, but the same face. She shuddered and kept flicking through until she got to a channel that was showing Patrick Stewart's Christmas Carol.

Trying to ignore the sickening thought that all these actors probably now looked like this man in her kitchen, she turned back to see that the bowl was now half-empty.

"Is your _stomach_ dimensionally transcendental, or something?" she blurted out.

He looked up at her sharply, dropping the fork and staring. She was amazed that he had managed to eat so much spaghetti without getting even a drop of the sauce on his face, "Where did you hear that term?"

"My... my boss, he told me... I..." she stammered to a stop at the rage in his eyes.

"Your boss?" he asked, standing slowly, and approaching her ominously, "I've no idea who you're talking about, but I suddenly feel the irresistible urge to punch his lights out." He stopped about a foot in front of her, looming ominously in a way Rhys would never have been able to pull off, "Tell me who you work for."

Gwen stumbled back against the counter, "T-Torchwood." she said weakly.

He rolled his eyes, then rolled his head around on his neck in a circular motion, "Harkness." he seemed to hiss, exasperated and irritated by that name.

"Yes." Gwen said, her hand slowly reaching for her gun now.

But then before she could blink, he was right in front of her and had caught her wrist, "You think I'm stupid?" he asked, pulling the gun out from behind her back, "Your shirt was tucked in before I came in here, but not when you followed me." he explained. She stared at him, wide-eyed and fearful... and he leaned a little closer, "You're bloody beautiful." he whispered.

Gwen tried to pull away when she realised he was about to kiss her, and he stopped... frowned, then took a step back, still holding the gun. She saw him blink a couple of time, then shake his head and turn away from her, clearly confused by his own actions.

Starting to pace, he shook his head, "This is wrong." he said angrily.

"You're telling me?" she demanded, stunned by his sudden change in demeanour.

"I shouldn't be-" completely ignoring her now, he seemed to be muttering to himself, and she only caught a few words at a time as he paced irritably, "Not possible- programming was foolproof- wouldn't allow for any- I can't... aww, this just isn't fair!" he complained, finally turning back to face her.

The look on his face was almost funny. Might actually have made her laugh, if he wasn't waving the gun around now. And his next words really didn't help, either.

"I should just kill you." he said directly, pointing the gun at her, "You're a threat to the plan, a- a rogue element. Unpredictable, know too much, far too intelligent... _and_ you're one of his. But I..." he lowered the gun, let his hand fall to his side only holding the weapon loosely, now, "I don't want to."

Gwen frowned, tentatively stepping closer to him, "Why not?" she asked, trying to sound innocently hopeful, rather than anything that might make him think that he ought to change his mind.

He just stared at her with a sort of lost puppy expression, which looked so completely out of place on that face. "I have no idea." he said, laughing weakly, "There's no logical reason for me _not_ to kill you."

Gwen watched him sadly, no longer so afraid as she took another step closer to him, "You mentioned a plan...?" she asked gently. Now acting more like she was dealing with a skittish animal, rather than a vicious one.

He laughed, a short and sharp bark of a laugh, "As if I'd tell you!" he said, shaking his head... and now _he_ backed away from _her_. "I'm letting you live, that's more than most people get."

But then a thought occurred to her, "You said I was '_bloody beautiful_'...?" she asked.

"Well you are." he conceded, before adding much more rudely- and it seemed with the deliberate intent of breaking the tension- "For a human."

Gwen laughed nervously, "Maybe my Rhys is still in there, somewhere, then. Because the way you said it before sounded exactly like something he'd say."

The intruder stared at darkly, "Your husband is dead. Accept it. All that's left is me, and I'm here to stay."

x x x

It had been three months. Three long months searching. How could one tiny little planet hold so many hiding places? It was ridiculous. But finally, he had found what he'd been looking for.

It was a run-down dump of a place, really. Cheap motel somewhere in America... not too far from a building with a conspicuously high level of extra-terrestrial technology... as if he was there on purpose, maybe. Didn't matter.

He'd found the right place, he could literally smell him now. The entire building had his scent all over it. He'd recently walked these corridors, touched the walls, even kissed the receptionist.

John Hart stopped outside the door, behind which he was certain he would find Jack Harkness, and he knocked.

A slight irritable twitch in the back of his mind distracted him for an instant, as he heard movement from within the room. He knocked again, getting impatient.

"I'm coming!" Jack's voice called from within the room.

'_I'll bet!_' John thought snidely, but daren't say it aloud. Didn't want to give his ex-lover warning of just who was waiting here for him. He knocked again.

A flash if vertigo, and the sound of laughter in his mind. John shook his head to make it go away. He'd been having bad dreams for a month, now... that face. That insane gleefully laughing face.

He shook his head again to try to get it out, but it wouldn't go away.

"Just a second." he heard Jack shout distantly, as if his mind was far removed from reality.

Then the door opened, just as the world faded into a blur of black and cackling laughter.

And the last thing he knew was the sound of Jack's voice yelling in shock and horror.

x x x

UNIT HQ, Geneva.

The commanding officer was now dead. He hadn't been human enough, by the look of things. They weren't sure _what_ he was... looked human, certainly. Even smelled human.

"Well, looks like I'm in charge, now." the one who had killed him said, holding up his gun as if daring anyone else to challenge him.

"I'm the next-highest ranking officer." one of them pointed out, tapping the stripes on his uniform for emphasis, "I figure I ought to be in line for a promotion, now."

"Want to claim that promotion posthumously, do we?" the killer asked.

"Any one of us is qualified to lead, here." another pointed out from a computer station, "Just make up our minds and get on with it, already."

"You could do with being silenced permanently, and all." the one with the gun pointed out.

"Just a little taste of power and we always want more." the computer operator sighed, returning to his screen... a second later the screen was covered in his brains.

"Still want to challenge me?" he asked the other officer... who, in spite of wearing a truly mutinous expression, did back down. "Anyone else like to say anything? No? Good!"

The murderer carefully removed the coat with stripes on it from the dead commanding officer, and quickly threw it on over the rest of his uniform... then stole the man's hat, as well.

x x x

Martha Jones was in the middle of the desert. She wasn't sure why she let UNIT give her these rubbish jobs... wasn't there an entire organisation in this area devoted to alien crash sites? But noooo, she got sent to investigate the crater in the middle of nowhere. Alone. On Christmas eve.

Just because they'd detected something that looked like temporal displacement. "Why is it always me?" she muttered with a sigh, before very carefully allowing herself to slide down the edge of the crater.

A few steps in and she saw it.

"Space junk!" she shouted loudly to the deserted- well, desert! "This is Torchwood's mess, not mine." she continued to herself, "Bloody rift, I ought to tell Jack exactly where he can shove it."

After scanning it to ensure it wasn't radioactive, she picked up the twisted bit of time-warped and useless metal. If she had to guess it used to be... yep, Sontaran blaster, completely ruined and worthless. Why was she not surprised?

Just then, her phone rang.

She glanced down at it, wondering how she was getting a signal out here. Then she looked at caller-ID. Unknown. She considered ignoring it, but then wondered why anyone with this boring an evening _wouldn't_ want to talk to someone? So she answered it.

"Hello? Hello?" the female voice on the other end asked, sounding almost panicked.

"Gwen?" she asked, unsure.

"Yeah, yeah it's me. Oh, thank god you're you!" Gwen said quickly, "Look, I know this is bad timing, and all... but... um... have you noticed the world ending at all?"

"Nnnno." Martha said, looking skywards and seeing nothing unusual, "Not recently."

"You're alone, then." Gwen said with some certainty.

"How'd you guess?" Martha asked, both snidely annoyed at her utterly worthless mission, and confused at how Gwen had known she was alone.

"Because everyone in the world who's all-human has... changed." Gwen said with a wary note that implied she was watching someone else... someone who _had_ 'changed'.

"Everyone who's all-human?" Martha asked unsure, "Gwen... unless you've been hiding something from me, we're both human."

"Nostrovite bite... corrupted my DNA. I'm guessing the Reset might have affected you." Gwen said quickly.

Given that suggestion, Martha added a few of her own, "Or maybe it was the Sontarans. Might have been the time the Doctor kissed me... or-"

"Well how doesn't matter." Gwen interrupted urgently, "We need to do something... I- I just don't know what."

"What about the Doctor?" Martha asked, "Is he here? On Earth?"

"I don't know." Gwen answered, and Martha couldn't hear the words of a muttered conversation, guessing Gwen put her hand over the phone for it, before finally she answered, "He's on Earth, but... might need rescuing."

"Again?" Martha complained, laughing weakly, before taking on a business-like tone, "Alright, where is he? What can we do?"

Gwen hesitated, as if listening to instructions or advice, "Phone could be bugged." she said bluntly, "Remember I told you about the time Jack and I went camping?"

"Yeah." Martha said warily. The tale had actually involved the entire team... and a pack of cannibals... but Gwen had just made it sound like a personal thing. Probably for the benefit of whoever might be ingenious enough to bug their phones.

"Can you meet us there?"

"Might take a while... but I'll do my best."

"Why, where are you?" Gwen asked, confused.

"Oh... about a couple of miles from Area 51."

x x x

The Master- well, three of him- had just tied the Doctor down to the elaborate chair... thing. Wilf was restrained as well, but much less dramatically so. The other three had left now, and the Doctor, Wilf and the original Master were alone, with only one guard and a great big video screen to communicate with the rest of the world.

"Now then, I've got a planet to run." the Master whispered eagerly in his ear. It made the Doctor feel sick at the thought of it. He crossed the room to a large view-screen, and asked, "Is everybody ready?"

"Six billion, seven hundred and twenty-seven million, nine hundred and forty-nine thousand three hundred and thirty-eight versions of us awaiting orders." one of the Masters on the view-screen answered.

Those numbers didn't fit with the human population estimates... the Doctor was sure of it.

The screen switched to another image, but before that Master now on the screen could speak, the doors behind the Doctor banged open with dramatic flair, "Look what I found!" another Master announced gleefully. The Doctor dreaded to think what it was... nothing that could invoke that tone of voice in the Master could possibly be good.

Every one of them- the original Master and all the ones on the screen- was staring at the newcomer in surprise now, expressing various levels of excitement, amusement, enthusiasm and... in some, jealousy.

This new arrival swept past the Doctor and into the centre of the room... where he stopped right in front of the Doctor, spinning on the spot, holding his arms out to show off the fact that he was wearing Jack Harkness's clothes, complete with that distinctive military greatcoat.

Laughing far too enthusiastically, he stopped spinning, facing the original Master and bowed his head slightly before saluting. "At your service, sir!" he cheered.

"Oh yes!" the Master- the original one- crowed, laughing. Several of the others applauded this turn of events, as well. "I did wonder if he was even human!" he laughed, "Isn't this just brilliant, Doctor?" he taunted.

The Doctor glowered at him darkly, pain showing in his eyes as he stared at the one wearing Jack's clothes. It was bad enough to consider that a vast number of people he'd never met had been changed like this... but someone he considered a friend... it hurt so much more.

The newcomer moved to stand just behind the Doctor, as the original Master returned his attention to the screens. Reports from all the world powers, now controlled by various versions of the Master, came in announcing the immediate transfer of all the planet's weapons and defences to the original Master.

x x x


	2. Deviation

x x x

_"I couldn't take it any longer, God I went crazy,_  
><em>Then the feeling came upon me like tidal wave,<em>  
><em>Started swearing to my god and on my mother's grave,<em>  
><em>That I would love you 'til the end of time.<em>  
><em>I swore I would love you 'til the end of time!"<em>

_-Meatloaf, Paradise By The Dashboard Lights._

x x x

**Chapter 2: Deviation**

x x x

Gwen sat nervously on the floor of Rhys' car... head covered by a coat, but she could still see him as he drove. She was hiding, because there were other 'people' around, and they all looked like this man. The Master. He hadn't explained anything to her, just that she wasn't safe here, and he'd proceeded to insist she had to hide.

She was surprised that this 'Master' would want to protect her, as she was certain any of the others would have killed her in an instant. She decided Rhys was responsible for the discrepancy, and was eternally grateful for it.

Right now, they were speeding out to the only safe meeting place she could think of... the only place she knew for certain would be abandoned, because Torchwood had _made_ it be abandoned.

She had brought Rhys' favourite CD, and it was playing now as they drove, very fast. Meatloaf.

"_Some days I pray for silence, and some days I pray for a soul, some days I just pray to the god of sex and drums and rock-n-roll!_"

He looked like he was trying to ignore the music. Gwen sighed, peering at the GPS she was holding, "We're nearly there... next right." she said clearly.

He leaned over, and pulled the coat off her, "It's all clear out here." he offered, and she sat up with a grateful- if still nervous- smile. It was eerie out here, really. She recognised the fields they drove through, and within minutes they were pulling up into the village itself.

"_Remember everything that I told you, and I'm tellin' you again that it's true, you're never alone, 'cause you can put on the 'phones and let the drummer tell your heart what to do._"

"You brought this CD with you because your husband liked it." he pointed out with certainty.

Gwen smiled, "Yeah, that's right. How'd you know?"

"His name was on the CD case." he said bluntly, holding up the offending object, "And the music was a bad idea." he turned it off sharply. "I have a headache now."

As he got out of the car and stalked towards the nearest building, Gwen looked at the CD case. Only one song left to go, too... but it was the one of Rhys liked the least, and she doubted Paradise By The Dashboard Lights would have helped at all, anyway.

With a sigh, she climbed out of the car and followed him.

"This place stinks." he muttered, slightly awed, as they stepped into the old pub, "Rotted corpse smell."

"Yeah... stay out of the basement." Gwen advised sagely. The police had cleaned the place out after the incident that had brought Torchwood here, but it did really stink, and the basements were where the worst of it had happened.

"I'll be in the basement, if you need me later." he said brightly. Her shocked and angry glare made him freeze, "What? I'm hungry!"

"Rotted corpse smells _appetising _ to you?" she asked, disgusted.

"Well... no... but it's still edible."

"Please, don't." Gwen begged, trying to repress the memories of last time she'd been in this place, "Look, there's a burger stand just down the road about a mile or so. Unless the bloke who runs it turned into you and cleared it all out by now..."

His eyes narrowed, but he nodded almost submissively, "Wouldn't want to make you more nauseous than you already must be." he said almost snidely, as he stepped closer and lightly touched her belly.

She backed away almost immediately, utterly repulsed by this... this monster. "What actually happened?" she asked sharply, "How did everyone become... well, you?"

"They called it the 'Immortality Gate'." he said, shrugging and sitting down on a barstool, "Really poorly named, if you ask me. It was originally designed to heal planets, not grant everlasting life like the humans seemed to think it would. I... ah, reprogrammed it, so that it would transmit my genetic code across the Earth to everyone that registered as human."

"Where did this 'gate' thing come from?" Gwen asked, curiously.

"It's Vinvocci technology." he said idly, leaning over the bar and looking disappointed when he failed to find anything to drink there, "Wound up on Earth. Torchwood, actually." he said with a dark grin, "Joshua Naismith looted it when someone blew your base to smithereens." Gwen's eyes widened in surprise at this bit of information, and he laughed, "Oh, I love it when you do that. You look like a frightened deer, it's absolutely adorable!"

x x x

Avoid human contact, Gwen had told her. Simple rule, in theory. Bloody well damned-near impossible in practice.

Martha had just driven round to the quieter rear car-park of the UNIT base she had been dispatched from, and was now in the process of watching a couple of masked guards she needed to slip past to try to get to the storage room. Get her hands on an Indigo pack and she'd be home-free. Only way to travel as fast as she needed to, really.

The guards were far more alert and attentive than was usual, standing to attention even though there was no one else to be seen. She idly wondered for a moment if they'd had the bright idea of putting their uniforms on dummies for show, but then one of them moved. Martha scowled, and continued to wait. It was getting tedious and frustrating.

Just as she was considering ways to render them both unconscious, someone caught her from behind.

A hand over her mouth and an urgent 'shhh' hissed in her ear... then she was pulled back away from the guards and turned to face a truly terrified-looking Jack Harkness. "Martha... pinch me, slap me, maybe even kill me. This is a nightmare!" he whispered almost desperately.

Martha stared at him, wide-eyed and frightened, "What's going on, Jack?" she asked, "And what are you doing here?" even as she asked, he was leading her away from the building. Away from her teleport device, and away from any chance of getting to Gwen to help.

"I saw your car. I followed you here." Jack said quickly, dragging her into said car and as soon as they were both inside he drove off, out towards the desert.

"Jack, tell me what's going on, please!" Martha asked, confused.

"I have no idea how it happened." Jack said, and she actually looked at him now. He was so pale, clearly terrified... and if the shadows under his eyes were any indication, recently dead.

"Gwen phoned me." Martha said softly, "She said everyone had changed..."

Jack nodded once, "Sounds like what I saw." he said tensely.

"Changed how, Jack?"

He shook his head, clearly not wanting to talk about it. But then something hit the side of the car. The airbag hit Martha's face, and a splatter of blood struck her from the side, causing her to let out a muffled scream.

A particularly large truck had rammed right into the driver's side of the car. Martha wasn't injured... just shaken. She scrambled out of the car and then turned to see that Jack appeared to be terribly wounded, but not dead yet.

She had started to try to pull him out when the echo of a laser-blast rang through the air, and the windscreen shattered, sending shards of glass down onto both of them.

"It's called _talking_, Jack!" a terrifyingly familiar voice shouted through the night air, "Now hold still and stay alive long enough to _let me talk to you!_"

Martha looked up to see the Master standing on the hood of the truck, staring down at them and pointing a gun at Jack. A laser gun, she assumed. There were differences, though... for a start he was blond. That was the first thing she noticed. He'd clearly not shaved in a while, either... assuming Time Lords were in any way similar to humans in that respect.

He was dressed very strangely, too, she thought. Then again, seeing him without the suit he had apparently not changed for a over year would be strange. Like that time the Doctor wore a tux... it just looked wrong. This costume, however, was downright bizarre, and most noticeable for including a samurai sword and an old-fashioned red military jacket.

Jack cringed, closing his eyes and gasping for air. At a vague guess, Martha thought the impact of the truck had crushed a lung.

"Are you _listening to me?_" the Master shouted, jumping down onto the hood of Martha's car.

She shrieked in fear, but he seemed quite completely focused on Jack... who continued to refuse to look at him. Martha tried to pull him out of the driver's seat, not really caring for aggravating the wounds as she would for anyone else... Jack would just get better again.

"Oh no you don't." the Master said, laughing and shooting Jack's arm, no more than an inch from striking Martha where she had been holding him.

"Run, Martha..." Jack managed to gasp, coughing up blood as he spoke.

Martha cringed at the sight of her friend in this state, but backed away, "I'm sorry." she whispered, before turning to run away.

Another laser blast hit the ground right in front of her, as she fled, and she skidded to a halt, turning back to face the Master, "Oh, please stay for the show, Miss Martha!" he shouted after her, jumping down to the ground now and stalking towards her, "I'd hate for you to miss this!"

Martha turned slowly to face him directly, and straightened up with a sort of determined pride that kind of felt like she was walking to the gallows. "What are you doing here?" she demanded, "We saw you die!"

"Hmm... you really think I would purposefully refuse to regenerate, if I didn't have a backup plan?" he asked, smirking in amusement, before gesturing with the laser gun for her to walk back over to the car. "Come on, now... be a good girl."

She glared hatefully at him as she walked back to where Jack was still trapped.

"Look at me, Jack." the Master commanded. Jack refused, adamantly turning his head away instead. The Master rolled his eyes, sighing in exasperation, "_Jason!_" he shouted.

Jack's head snapped around- literally making a cracking sound as he did this- to stare at the Master in surprise. '_Jason?_' Martha wondered. Was that his real name? How did the Master know, if it was?

"Look at me." the Master insisted, "Really look. Come on, now. You're a bright boy, you can figure this out can't you?"

Jack stared darkly, "No... I don't want to-"

"You know it's still me, Jack." the Master purred, leaning on the undamaged doorway of the car, and looking down so they were almost face-to-face now, "I believe- it's difficult to- to recall- to understand- the memories are faint... but..." he was hesitating here, flinching slightly, and frowning in concentration as he spoke, "...you often called me 'barely human'. It can be taken literally, as well as morally."

"No..." Jack choked, "Please no."

"Jack, what's going on?" Martha asked shakily.

"Every human on the Earth has been changed." the Master said gleefully, standing up straight and turning to face her now.

"I got that part." Martha said darkly, hating where she guessed this might be leading. And she was proved right as he continued.

"Into me." he held his hands out to the side to show off, as if she'd ever want to look at him. "I always doubted that Jack was human... I'm surprised by you, Miss Jones... but this one-" he gestured to himself, "-was _just_ human enough to turn... but..." he twitched slightly, a hand moving up to the side of his head, "There's still... memories... emotions."

"Humanity?" Jack asked with a cold and mirthless laugh.

"Do you think this one had that psychological trait to begin with, Jack?" he asked coldly.

"Note the sarcasm." Jack hissed weakly.

This made the Master laugh, "Oh, but you know me, Jack... would the words 'dangerous obsession' sound better to you? Or can I get away with calling it true love?"

"For a sociopathic nihilist... it could be called love." Jack grumbled weakly, "But you're not him now."

"Didn't you _hear me?_" the Master yelled, kicking the side of the car violently, "Residual memory and _emotions!_ Isn't that enough?"

Jack looked up at him with a coldly calculating stare, "I'd trust you less than the Master, even if you were still human." he said darkly... before smirking weakly, "But if you get me out of here and kill me cleanly so I can recover faster, I'll consider giving you one chance?"

Martha was staring in shock, having no idea what on Earth was going on.

But then without another word, the Master charged around the car, leapt up into the truck and reversed it away from her car before climbing out and pulling the driver's side door open with some effort. Jack turned to face him, only to have the Master put a hand on either side of his head and pull hard to the side, snapping his neck.

Martha shrieked, and backed away in horror, her mind starting to go numb as the Master pulled Jack's body out of the ruined car.

He looked up at her, and rolled his eyes, "You people really need to learn to _listen!_ He _asked_ me to kill him!" he shouted, pointing the laser at her now, "Get over here, Miss Jones. Right now." he commanded.

Reluctantly, Martha obeyed.

She had barely made it around the car, before Jack resurrected, gasping for air as always, and staring up at the Master with blatant shock.

"Well, now do you believe me?" the Master asked him idly, offering him a hand to help him stand.

Jack warily accepted the offered hand, "You look good blond." he said idly, "I think he would, too."

The Master snorted with bemusement, "One Buffy joke, I'll kill you a dozen more times."

Jack laughed nervously, "Wouldn't dream of it."

"J-Jack... what's going on?" Martha asked weakly.

"Martha... this is- used to be, I'm not quite sure- my ex-lover, John Hart." Jack glanced at her, "We were partners at the Time Agency."

"Why'd he call you Jason?" she asked, now, watching the Master- John Hart, whatever- very carefully.

"Long story..." Jack said, laughing weakly.

"It involved a weekend spent intoxicated, watching one too many twentieth century horror movies." the Master answered brightly, "The Time Agency modelled itself on the legends of the Time Lords, idolising and aspiring to be like them." he laughed, "And _look at me now!_" he crowed gleefully, spinning on the spot to show off the fact that he now _was_ a Time Lord.

Jack rolled his eyes, "We never used our real names in case someone looked us up and made us cease to exist by altering our past. Completely paranoid, the lot of us." he explained, "The one movie too many might have been Freddy versus Jason. We spent our next two years at the Agency using those names as our aliases."

"Jason Voorhees?" Martha asked sceptically.

"It was funny at the time." Jack admitted, unrepentant, "It was the only alias John ever knew for me, before I left. That weekend was just after we were assigned as partners. They were going to, ah... retire him, if I hadn't agreed to work with him. So he wanted to celebrate."

"The hesitation on the word 'retire' sounds bad." Martha noted.

"Can't literally make it so a person never exited, without undoing the work they did for the Agency as well... but they can do the next best thing." the Master said bluntly, "All record of the Agent's existence is destroyed or locked in the Agency vaults. The Agent's memories are erased, and anyone who was close to them is made to forget them as well."

"That's horrible!" Martha cried.

"How much of this information is from John's memories, anyway?" Jack asked.

"Surprisingly little." the Master said bluntly. "Only the bit about your name, and how I knew it... really."

"Worrying." Jack muttered, and the Master grinned evilly at this. Jack shook his head, "What do you want, now?" he asked.

"You. Simple, isn't it?" the Master laughed, "I'll probably end up helping you if you really want me to... and you will. I know you will."

"We need to get back to Britain." Jack said bluntly, "Any... ideas...?" he trailed off as the Master had pulled up the sleeve of his coat while Jack had been asking... to reveal a wrist strap that strongly resembled Jack's own. "That still works?"

The Master grinned brightly, "Oh, yes."

x x x

The teleport brought them directly to the Brecon Beacons. Jack didn't like the choice of location, but couldn't fault Gwen on her ability to find somewhere deserted to hide out.

Or at least, Jack had thought it would be deserted.

One of the Master-clones was waiting outside a building, and waved to them as they approached, "Been expecting you." he announced, grinning maniacally, in spite of the fact that Jack now held him at gunpoint. But then he explained, "She's just inside. Quickly, now, before more of me show up."

Jack scowled at this one, unsure how to react, "And you are...?"

"Who do I look like?" he snapped, "I... just don't want to see her get hurt."

"Gwen?" Martha asked, stepping into the building the clone had indicated they enter.

Gwen's voice called out enthusiastically, "Martha! Jack! Thank god you're okay!" but then she froze as the two Master-clones followed them into the building, "Unless this one stole those clothes, Jack... I'm gonna kill him."

"I did steal these clothes, Gwenny darlin'." the John-Master- for want of a less annoying way to think of him- said cheerfully.

"Go to hell, Vera." Gwen hissed coldly.

"Nice to see you again, too." he sniped.

"Least you recognise me..." Gwen muttered darkly, but then, "Wait a minute... _how_ do you recognise me?"

He stared at her, "Not sure." he admitted, "I blame human evolution. Curse the fifty-first century!" he laughed for half a second... but then froze, "Damn it!" he snapped, hitting the nearest flat surface with his fist, "Now I just found a _logical_ reason to help you. I won't ever even exist if I don't."

"So who was he, then?" Jack asked, nodding to the other one.

"Rhys." Gwen admitted sadly, "Except he doesn't remember anything about being human, now." Jack frowned, but nodded slowly, completely understanding how she was so upset by it.

"We need to stop this." Jack said with determination.

"How?" both Master-clones asked together.

"Not that we don't want to help you..." John observed, "But... you've gotta admit that you're a bit outnumbered here."

"Just a bit?" the other one- formerly Rhys- laughed mockingly, "We're at about one point three _billion_ to one, by my count!"

Martha blinked wide-eyed, "Yes? So? I beat six billion to one odds, last time!" Everyone looked at her, and she grinned smugly at the dark look both Master-clones gave her for this, "Step one. We need a plan."

Jack frowned, "Even if we don't figure one of those out, we _will_ need the Doctor." he pointed out. Martha nodded slowly, in agreement.

"But he's being held prisoner." Gwen put in, nodding to the Master-clone that used to be her husband, clearly indicating him as the source of her information, "Somewhere in London, with the... the real Master."

"Hey, I'm still real!" the Rhys-Master pointed out, "I just... didn't feel like killing you, that's all."

"Why's that, then?" Martha asked, curiously.

"How should I know?" he defended, "Bloody human's wearing some sort of pheromone-perfume, or something!"

"No, I confiscated those when I found out Owen was using them on the pull, Friday nights." Jack said, smirking at this exchange, "I know why John's on my side though... even if I wouldn't trust him much more than the rest of your clones, right now." he added.

"I love you too." the John-Master said snidely.

"See? That's exactly why." Jack said almost smugly, earning a dark glare from John.

"So how do we get the Doctor?" Gwen asked, "If he's being held prisoner?"

"Again." Martha muttered.

"I have a plan." John said with a grin, "Jack, take off your clothes!"

x x x


	3. Deception

x x x

_"It don't matter what you see,_  
><em>I know I could never be,<em>  
><em>Someone that'll look like you.<em>  
><em>It don't matter what you say,<em>  
><em>I know I could never face,<em>  
><em>Someone that could sound like you."<em>

_-One Republic, All the Right Moves._

x x x

**Chapter 3: Deception**

x x x

"Oh, Doctor... that's what your prophecy was! _Me!_" the Master cheered gleefully, never before had he seemed quite _this_ completely egocentric, to believe that _everything_ was about him. And as if that wasn't bad enough, quite suddenly, he slapped the Doctor across the face. A half-second passed, then, "Where's the TARDIS?"

"No, just stop." the Doctor begged, "Just think."

But the Master interrupted him. "Kill him." he ordered, pointing to Wilf... and turning his head to look at the human, as well.

_CRACK!_

The Master fell to the ground, unconscious. Then his voice came from behind the Doctor, "Oh, you really shouldn't have looked away." he tutted, "And aren't _you_ a little tall for a stormtrooper?" The guard stumbled into view, threatened by what appeared to be a laser gun, held by the one who was wearing Jack's clothes. "You gonna help untie them, or would you prefer a laser bolt up the nose?"

The guard nervously removed his helmet to reveal green skin and spikes... the Vinvocci named Rossiter. "Y-yes, right." he glanced at the Doctor with an apologetic look, for getting caught out, then set about untying Wilf. The version of the Master wearing Jack's clothes didn't even blink at the fact there was a green spiky alien there. Clearly not surprised in the slightest.

The Doctor really wasn't sure what to make of this. It definitely looked, smelled and telepathically felt like the Master... even if he was wearing Jack's clothes. Still, he clearly had a different agenda from the others. The Doctor certainly wasn't going to complain at being untied, even if he did have to ask, "What are you up to?"

"You're so untrusting, Doctor." he said idly, as he worked on removing the straps from the chair with great efficiency.

The Doctor didn't remember the Master being that good at tying people up... or untying them. It had taken three of him five minutes to get the Doctor into this chair, and this one had just undone it within two!

In fact, by the time Rossiter had untied Wilf, this version of the Master had also freed the Doctor, "We should probably leave now..." he said bluntly, pulling up the sleeve of his coat to reveal a Vortex manipulator. Annoyingly, it was a fully functional one, and the Doctor made a note to do something about that when this was over, "Everyone who wants out better grab onto me."

The other Vinvocci- the girl, Addams- ran into the room quickly, having been spying on them this whole time, and caught his shoulder. Rossiter scowled at her, but obeyed the instruction as well, taking a hold of his other shoulder. The Doctor took his arm just above the Vortex manipulator, and indicated for Wilf to do the same.

As soon as all four of them were holding on securely, he pressed a button and they teleported away from the manor house.

Hating the feel of even the teleport function of this little Earth toy, the Doctor flinched away from him as soon as they landed. He just caught Wilf as the human stumbled into him in his disorientation. "First time's always the worst." the... the not-Master said, grinning.

"Oh gods, what was that?" Addams demanded, a bit higher-pitched than usual in her anger.

"Felt like downing a whole Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blaster in one." Rossiter put in weakly.

"Yeah, it'll do that." the not-Master said cheerfully, before calling out more clearly, "Hey, honey, we're home!"

"About damned time!" the Doctor jumped, hearing Jack Harkness's voice, as the man himself strode into the room. He was wearing the oddest collection of clothing the Doctor had seen in a long time... possibly since his sixth incarnation. "I want my clothes back, these trousers are too tight."

"But you shoulda seen the looks on their faces when they saw me! It was totally worth it!" the not-Master crowed gleefully, as the Doctor scanned the rest of the room. Martha Jones, Gwen Cooper, and another... not-Master. He wondered why these two weren't cooperating with the collective. There had to be a reason.

"Clothes. Now." Jack insisted.

"Make me." the one wearing Jack's clothes challenged brightly.

"Think who you're talking to, Master!" the Doctor blurted out almost automatically, truly shocked by the exchange.

"Oh, believe me, I know." he grinned, not taking his eyes off of Jack. Daring the human to try it.

It then occurred to the Doctor to ask, "Why didn't you three change?"

"Nostrovite bite." Gwen said bluntly, as if this was enough of an explanation. Really, if you think about it for long enough- or are just plain smart enough- it was.

"Alien bug-eggs... long story." Martha said, shrugging.

"Not a clue, but I'm guessing Rose?" Jack offered vaguely, still watching the not-Master who was wearing his clothes. The Doctor saw a predatory glint flash in his eyes, and then Jack literally pounced. The two men fought for almost a minute, in front of a truly stunned audience, before Jack succeeded in pinning the not-Master down quiet securely to the ground, and repeating, "Clothes. Now."

"You want them, you have to take them." he laughed, in spite of being completely defenceless.

"I do _not_ want to see _that_." the other not-Master said, with blatant disgust, before immediately stalking out of the room.

Gwen stared for a second longer, then sighed dramatically, "These two really don't understand the phrase 'get a room'... so we should probably all just... leave them alone. Everybody out."

"Did I ever actually know anyone on Earth who _is_ completely human?" the Doctor asked Martha, in a forced conversational tone, as they all followed Gwen's instructions, and left the room.

"I'm human." Wilf offered hopefully.

The Doctor gave him a look, and muttered, "I'm not sold on that point, either."

x x x

An hour later, and Jack was now wearing his own clothes again... which were much more comfortable.

Not to mention re-acquiring them had been far more fun than he had anticipated. He decided he very much liked the Master's body. It was the insane Time Lord's mind that was a problem. And now, somehow spliced with John Hart, a whole host of entirely new inhuman dementations shone through in his behaviour and sense of humour.

Still was fun, though.

Gwen, Martha and... the Rhys-Master had been talking, while he and John had been otherwise occupied. Gwen was talking animatedly, and Martha looked downright horrified by whatever she was hearing. The Master was... grinning, enjoying the story like it was much more amusing than Martha's expression would lead one to believe.

Jack idly wondered what they were talking about, but shook his head and approached the Doctor and the old man instead. He didn't know this guy's name, yet.

"Doctor." he said, almost warily. They both looked up at him from their seats at the largest table, in this abandoned pub, and the Doctor seemed almost lost, here, with nothing practical to do, "Do you have a plan? Any way to stop the Master?"

The Doctor stared blankly for half a second, before slowly shaking his head, "I'm sorry, Jack."

Jack sighed, sitting down next to the other man, "There has to be some way."

"He's right, Doctor." the other man said, "You've always got a trick or two up your sleeve, you have."

Jack glanced at him, with a faint smile at his optimism, "I agree completely..." he hesitated, the silence effectively asking this man's name.

"Wilfred Mott. Friends call me Wilf." he answered, offering a hand to shake. Jack accepted it, but didn't say anything more.

"And this is Captain Jack Harkness." the Doctor introduced for him, his lip twitching faintly as he realised that Jack had _deliberately _ not introduced himself, so as to avoid being accused of flirting.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Wilfred said with a respectful nod to the stripes on his coat.

"But he is right, Doctor." Jack pointed out, "You've always managed to find a way out of messes like this before."

The Doctor shook his head again, frowning, "I've tried to think of something... anything. I can't see any way to reverse the damage he's done without..."

"Without what?" Wilfred asked.

"Well... without killing everyone he's turned... and that's not an option." the Doctor said with determination.

Just then, however, the others approached. All four of them. The two Master-clones settled themselves comfortably at the table, clearly expecting this conversation to become a long debate, while Gwen and Martha stood facing them all.

"We have a plan." Gwen announced.

"It's probably a very bad idea, but... well, can it be worse than this?" Martha asked, indicating the two formerly human men that they had been talking to.

"Not easily." the Doctor admitted, "What's this plan, then?"

x x x

The Doctor did not like the plan. The Doctor did not like the plan at all, not one little bit, no sir-ee, not in the slightest, nope. Not at all.

But it _was_ the best- no, only- plan they had. It had been carefully plotted out by two Time Lords- one and a half?- two of the smartest twenty-first century humans- mostly human?- he'd ever met, and a dangerously clever and underhanded rogue Time Agent- or was that one and a half, as well?

He'd stayed out of the planning, listening and considering it all carefully.

In theory, it was a simple thing. Like the butterfly effect, a gentle prod to the right moment of history, a chain-reaction and these events today just wouldn't have been able to happen. He understood the sequence of events quite well, Gwen had explained it beautifully, even Jack had been taken aback at the suggestion.

It would work, the Doctor was quite certain of that. The problem wasn't whether they _could_ do it, but whether they _should_. Like saving Adelaide Brooke's life... it was a moment in time that would be very dangerous to mess around with.

But what else could they do?

So now Wilf, Gwen and Martha had a choice. Jack and the Doctor would go back and alter history. Neither version of the Master could afford to accompany them, or the changes to history wouldn't affect them and they would be stuck like this. The others could either choose to stay on Earth, and forget... or go with the Doctor and know what happened.

The Vinvocci had both decided to stay, almost as soon as the options were presented, and had since gone off to sulk about their failed salvage mission, in another room.

"I want to remember." Martha said with determination, "I want to know everything he's capable of, I want to be prepared in case something else like this happens in the future."

"No way I'm letting you get away with messing up _my_ memories, as well, Doctor." Wilf said sharply, like it was an order. He was definitely going with them.

Gwen frowned, "I'm not sure..." she said, glancing at the man who used to be her husband. He placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her, but she cringed from it, "I- I know this'll change a lot... but I..." she looked to Jack now, and came to a conclusion, "I want to go with you. I want to remember it, too. What if we accidentally change more than we bargain for? I might never even have joined Torchwood, or I might not have married Rhys, or I might not-" her hand moved to her belly and her eyes widened, "Oh, I am definitely going with you!"

The Doctor beamed at them, "Alright, then." he said, pulling the new remote he'd made for the TARDIS out of his pocket- it had isomorphic controls, of course- and pressed a button.

The TARDIS' engines roared, filling the room with that beautiful sound that the Doctor always felt meant 'home'. Then there she was, standing in the middle of the room before them, in all her glory.

"Allons-y!" he cheered, unlocking the door and making a sweeping bowing gesture to them all, that they should enter the TARDIS.

Martha and Jack strolled in like they belonged... Wilf was still a bit unsure as he followed them, but a second after Martha had led Gwen into the TARDIS as well, the yelp of "Oh my _god!_" could be heard.

"Bigger on the inside." Jack crowed gleefully at her reaction, "I've heard rumours his pockets are like that too."

"Jack..." the Doctor snapped warningly at him, still standing outside.

"They are." the not-Master wearing red said brightly.

The Doctor glared at him for a moment, before shaking his head, and turning back to the two Master-clones, "I have no idea how... but if anything big- important- uh, universe-destroying- comes up while we're away." he glanced at the both of them, "It would be in all our best interests for you two to buy us time."

"Uh... why?" Martha's voice asked, as she appeared behind the Doctor, "Aren't we going _back_ in time?"

"We'll be running on a relative temporal alignment, every minute we spend then will parallel a minute that passes now. Anything happens to destroy the universe _now_ and we'll probably feel it _then_. Especially if..." he trailed off distantly, remembering the prophecy he'd heard on the Ood world.

"If what?" the version of the Master wearing the Simpsons t-shirt asked.

"'The end of time itself'." the Doctor quoted softly, barely above a whisper, "That was the prophecy."

Both of them stared at him in silent shock, then looked at each other, "Oh, not good." the one in the t-shirt pointed out.

"No kidding." the other muttered, before they both turned back to the Doctor, "Three billion to one odds... but I'm game to play, for _that_ prize."

"Continuing to live is always worth my time." the first one agreed.

"No killing." the Doctor warned, pointing a finger warningly at each of them, "Those used to be human, if I find out anyone died because of either of you two..."

"You'll what, break the timeline so we'll exist again to let you punish us?" the one in the t-shirt asked mockingly, before snorting dismissively, "I'm not gonna get into a real fight with that lot, anyway. Not stupid, am I?"

The one in the military jacket just smirked, "No killing." he said quietly, "Unless they mortally wound me first."

x x x


	4. Dissent

x x x

_"My world was shattered, I was torn apart,_  
><em>like someone took a knife and drove it deep in my heart.<em>  
><em>You walk out that door, I swore that I didn't care,<em>  
><em>but I lost everything, darling, then and there."<em>

_-Cher, Turn Back Time._

x x x

**Chapter 4: Dissent**

x x x

Far above Earth's atmosphere- might be called orbit if they weren't above the North Pole and therefore not at a point affected by the planet's rotation- in the year 1965, the TARDIS hovered... lurked... waited.

"What are we waiting for, exactly, then?" Wilf asked. He had tried to listen to the plan as it was being formed, but it just hadn't sunk in. He knew there were some other kind of aliens involved, besides the ones he'd seen so far... and that gate thing. He didn't get it, though.

"We don't know what they're called." Captain Harkness said idly, "They were only known by the radio frequency they contacted us on. Four Five Six."

"Never heard of them." Wilf said dismissively.

"Any sign, yet, Doc?" Jack asked, turning to look up at the Doctor.

"I've got two signals that don't belong to Earth itself." the Doctor said, reading off the console, "One is a Thessian cruiser... the other's some kind of cargo ship. The Thessians are broadcasting on all the standard space-lane channels, but the other one isn't even showing an ID beacon."

"Check them both, I'm feeling paranoid." Jack muttered.

The Doctor shot him a dark look, "I somehow doubt that Thessian dignitaries would be involved in a smuggling ring, Jack."

"You never know." Jack said, staring at the ceiling distantly, "Where are they, in relative position?"

"The unidentified vessel is over North America... somewhere in Arkansas." He pressed more buttons, "Ah... oh, they're-" He coughed, looking embarrassed on behalf of extra-terrestrials in general, "-buzzing a small farm and spooking the cows." he sighed in exasperation, and shook his head in disgust, "Joy-riders."

"And the cruiser?" Jack asked.

"Gone behind the moon, now... they're not too far in the orbital path from Britain." the Doctor scowled, "Your paranoia seems to be justified, Jack... I just picked up a teleport from somewhere in Scotland, headed up to the cruiser."

"You did record those readings, I hope?" Jack asked.

"I'm playing by the book for a change, yes Jack." the Doctor answered, "Sending the signal now."

And so they waited, and watched. The cruiser made no move to leave the system, nor did it seem to either notice or care about the TARDIS scanning it.

Eventually, another ship arrived in the system.

Large, cylindrical, and imposing, it circled around the moon towards the cruiser. "I know that ship." Martha said, a bit stunned by this.

"Yep." the Doctor said, popping the 'p', as he cheerfully plotted a course to come out into full sight of the new vessel, "Judoon enforcer ship, first class. When _I_ bother to call in the Shadow Proclamation, they really take it seriously."

x x x

The Thessian Consul was highly affronted that someone had dared to interrupt her diplomatic mission. They had just made a pit-stop to recharge their solar cells, when the SP signal had alerted them that they were suspected of breaking about six different intergalactic laws.

She slowly turned to her second in command, "Is there something you would like to tell me, Chiron?"

"It is possible that one of our passengers is to blame." she answered, frowning at this new development, "We do have delegates from three factions of the Iridian conflict aboard. One, especially, seemed overly pleased with the news we would be passing through a class five system on our journey."

"Allow the SP full cooperation, and access to our ships' logs... and whatever niceties their enforcers will accept by way of apology for our involvement. I do _not_ want this on my personal record."

"Yes, M'Lady."

x x x

"Jack!"

A crackling sound came from the hologram that appeared from his wrist strap. It flickered and vanished. John- the Master, whichever he really was- had looked panicked, genuinely afraid.

Then the image flickered back in. He looked like he was running as he spoke. "Whatever you're doing, do it fast!" he said, with a gasp that sounded like it took a great deal of exertion.

Flicker, snap, and half a second later he was back again. A glance at the coordinates, point of origin of the message, told Jack that it was coming from somewhere in Britain.

"I found something. They're all after me now." Flicker, snap. "Guessing if they- I- we- covet it this much, gotta be bad for humanity- for you- right?" Flicker, snap. And gone again.

"What's that interference?" the Doctor asked.

"It's impossible. Just like you, lover." John-Master added, before flickering and snapping out again.

"Teleport." Jack said with a frown. The coordinates had read somewhere in Australia, that time. The instant he reappeared, Jack snarled at him, "Get to the point!"

John-Master hesitated, looked around, then seemed to slump to the ground, exhausted but also relieved. The coordinated now placed him somewhere in the middle of the Sahara desert. He sighed with exhaustion, then gave them both a dark and kind of baleful look, "It's a Whitepoint star."

The Doctor stared in shock and horror at the hologram, shaking his head slowly and actually trembling. Whether from shock or from fear, Jack couldn't tell... but whatever a Whitepoint star was, it was obviously something _very_ bad.

"Doctor?" Jack asked warily.

The Doctor looked up at him, and Jack saw the fear in his eyes. Real, deep soul-wrenching fear, like Jack had never seen in this man before, "A Whitepoint star is only found on one planet... Gallifrey."

"Scared, Doctor?" John-Master asked, seeming to enjoy the communication, now that he had a chance to catch his breath.

The Doctor nodded slowly, "Keep running." he said, his tone genuinely pleading.

John-Master smirked, "Is this _really_ a such bad thing?" he asked, with almost innocent curiosity, "I mean... our home, Doctor. Think about it."

"You weren't there." the Doctor said quietly, sadly, "War changes people... the Time War infinitely more so."

"But I can hear it, Doctor... this diamond... it's the source of all of it, it's- it's _in my head!_" the hologram looked up suddenly, and teleported again. A half-second later he registered as being at the north pole.

"Why stay on Earth?" Jack muttered, frowning.

"Without a rift-boost, this bit of junk I'm wearing will neither time-travel nor jump past the moon." he snapped.

"Master, listen to me." the Doctor said, taking a hold of Jack's wrist strap to speak more directly to the hologram, "Keep running. Trust me, please. We need to stop this, we need more time."

John-Master nodded slowly, frowning, "I trust you." but suddenly his head darted to the side, and then quickly back to stare directly at the Doctor, "Hurry!" then with one last flicker, he disappeared again.

x x x

"Well, this is nice." Martha said, as they disembarked from the TARDIS, onto the Thessian cruiser.

"Bit flashy." Jack said darkly.

"Wow... two alien spaceships in one day." Gwen muttered, staying close to Jack for reassurance.

A Judoon enforcer stepped in their way, and the TARDIS politely translated his growled voice for them, as he commanded, "Witnesses will report to the conference room. Follow."

"Friendly as always." the Doctor said brightly.

Martha giggled at this, as they began to follow the Judoon, "Just like old times."

"Oh yeah." the Doctor agreed brightly, "Judoon, the moon. Nostalgia's so much more fun when it's for the future, don't you think?"

"You were in that hospital, weren't you?" Wilf asked, somewhere between resigned that if it was alien the Doctor must have been involved, and excited at the hope of hearing more about it.

"Yeah, they were hunting a rogue Plasmavore-" the Doctor began.

"Alien vampire, really." Martha put in.

"-and Martha here ended up saving my life." the Doctor added brightly.

"A habit I'm not too pleased by the necessity of." Martha pointed out, but the Doctor grinned unashamedly.

They came to a door, and the Judoon gestured that they should go through it, then followed them inside.

They found themselves face-to-face with a beautiful blue-skinned alien woman, with elegant ridges along the back of her head, where humans would have had hair. Darker blue tattoos- or natural markings, Martha couldn't tell- framed her face, and she wore a pale dress than made her look like some kind of royalty.

Standing off to her right was another woman, of the same species, this one with different- pale pink- markings, and a military-style uniform.

"Ah, so you are my accusers?" the woman in the dress said, stepping forward gracefully, "I am Ylnara Senn, Consul of the western sector of Thessian space. I assure you, I was unaware of any unlawful acts being committed upon my vessel, and I offer you my full cooperation."

"A pleasure to meet you, M'Lady." the Doctor said politely, "I am the Doctor, and these are my associates-"

"Not your usual word." Jack interrupted in an undertone.

"You must have met Thessians, Captain. You know how they'd interpret that." he retorted, and Jack simply smirked as the Doctor continued his rather formal introduction, "My associates, Captain Jack Harkness, Wilfred Mott, Gwen Williams-Cooper, and Martha Jones." He bowed slightly to the alien woman.

Ylnara smiled, "Are formal introductions not done in order of seniority?" she asked, eyeing Jack specifically.

The Doctor just blinked innocently, neither confirming nor denying that he already knew that.

"The accuser will state their case." the Judoon commanded, preventing any further attempt at pleasantries.

The Doctor looked to Jack, who seemed startled at being called out to make the accusation himself. Clearly he had expected the Doctor to do it. But still, he stepped forward. It looked like it was taking all his self-control to maintain his composure as he spoke, "We recorded a teleport signal from the planet below. A planet protected by galactic laws as a class five inhabited world. We have reason to believe that the subjects of the teleport were native children, taken for the personal gain of the perpetrators."

"Teleport?" Ylnara asked, looking to her personal guard, who immediately checked a computer system.

"Someone appears to have attempted to alter our logs to hide it, but there _was_ a teleport to suite seven, from the planet's surface."

"We shall investigate." the Judoon said, raising an arm to activate a comms unit on his wrist.

"Suite seven is a class ten toxic atmosphere." Ylnara said with a sigh, "You were right, Chiron... it was them."

x x x

John had been caught. He had been dragged before the Master- the real one- and thrown to his knees like a disobedient slave awaiting punishment... because he wanted to know why. Why one of his drones had acted out and stolen the diamond.

"Who are you?" That was the first question.

And an interesting one. It had confused him for all of three seconds, when he had first turned- just long enough for Jack to run away from him- but since that point he had understood that he was neither and both. When he had heard Gwen's explanation of what had happened to her husband, he had then known which one he was _meant_ to be, and accepted that as his name.

Still, here it would probably be in his best interests to swing the other way, and so he answered the question with another question, "Who do I look like?" he asked, staring up at him. Knowing him as he knew himself.

"Why did you take this?" the Master asked, holding up the Whitepoint star for him to see.

John raised his eyebrows in bemusement, unsure exactly which answer would fit best. It's a _diamond_, that right there is a good reason. Somehow he assumed that the Master expected better, however, so he gave a different but equally honest answer, "I didn't want you to use it."

"What! Why not?" the Master demanded angrily.

"Think about it... that diamond is a link to the source of the infernal drumbeat in our heads." John explained calmly. The Master stared expectantly, clearly not getting why _that_ was a reason _not _ to use it, "What benevolent being would afflict us with such a curse, whatever the purpose or intent behind this connection?"

The Master frowned, now, clearly thinking about it, "That still doesn't explain why not to use it... we're hardly benevolent ourselves, are we?"

John grinned darkly, "But once we do what they want us to do... once we've outlived our usefulness..." The wording was chosen very carefully, and the Master looked shocked at the very suggestion. "They _want_ us to use it. Therefore we shouldn't."

The Master frowned, "How did you come to this conclusion?" he asked, stunned, "You're supposed to be _me!_ I didn't think of it, so how did you?"

John laughed, "How many times have we tried to conquer humanity so far? Don't you get this concept by now? If you wanted a race of clones, you should have picked on the Sontarans!" he crowed with the same maniacal laughter that belonged to the Master himself, "Look at them!" He waved a hand to the others in the room now. "Do the rest of you think we should use the diamond right this second without figuring out what it's here for first?"

A chorus of "No"s could be heard... but they weren't in perfect time or tone.

"Shy, nervous, silent head-shaking over there, fearful, determined, bold." John announced, indicating the former-scientists for the first three descriptions- three of them had been silent- then the one in Abigail's dress, a guard in armour but his face showed, and finally the one who had been Joshua Naismith. "No two the same." he turned to stare right at the Master, slowly rising to stand now, "Human individuality."

Formerly-Abigail stepped forward hesitantly, "You mean that we changed their bodies and minds... but not their souls?" he asked.

"_Exactly!_" John announced victoriously, grinning at him, "Some will be loyal, others not so much... I'm sure someone else out there wants to usurp your position even now, Master."

"But not you?" the Master asked, still slightly stunned by this new information, but recovering quickly.

John snorted, "I don't want to sit on the throne, in the line of fire from all takers. No, I like it better when we control and manipulate from behind the scenes." He grinned smugly as the Master glowered at him. John's gaze slid to the Master's hand, which clutched the diamond with white-knuckled determination now.

The Master saw this, and held the diamond up, without uncurling his fist, "Well something needs to be done about this."

"Any ideas, my liege?" John asked with a smirk that he was sure unsettled the Master. The hesitation was all John needed to interpret it as a resounding 'no', and he suggested, "Perhaps someone else here might have thought of something...?" he glanced around the room.

"This is _not_ a democracy!" the Master snarled defensively.

"No, of course not." John said dismissing the entire concept of 'democracy' as futile bullshit, "But are you not open to alternate perspectives that might give you options to consider? I mean... right now we've got nothing."

The Master glared at him for half a second longer, then glanced at the others... they were supposed to be loyal to him, like extensions of himself... no independent thought... and certainly no sense of initiative, like John was showing to his face.

"Just because it's from Gallifrey..." formerly-Joshua spoke, "When we left the Time War, Kasterberous was besieged. It could be someone else."

"No." formerly-Abigail said, shaking his head, "The diamond requires a subtle touch. The Daleks could never have manipulated it."

"Let's not forget the whole mind-fuck that lets us even hear it." John pointed out, grinning. They all looked at him, "Sorry, that not suitable language to talk about what happened when we were eight years old? I had considered a different word..." he had nearly called it mind-rape.

"A Time Lord, then?" the original Master asked through gritted teeth as he tried to ignore John's choice of words. They all nodded in agreement. "Why?"

"What's the best motivation for any of us?" one of the scientists asked, "Self-preservation. The Time War's locked, maybe they want out before it's too late for them."

"Something as small and insignificant as the diamond could get out." formerly-Abigail pointed out, "Slip through the cracks, unnoticed by everyone else... but so dangerous." He grinned, eyes lighting up with realisation, "Like Lucy... maybe there's a way we could turn it against them!"

"A trap?" the Master asked, considering the option carefully, before nodding slowly, "I like the sound of that."

"We should be careful..." John warned, "Make sure there's a failsafe, a backup plan and a backup for the backup plan... y'know, in case the Doctor shows up."

They all expressed their agreement in different ways, nods, murmurs of assent, and finally the original Master nodded sharply, "Of course."

x x x

Once the criminals had been identified, things had gone surprisingly smoothly.

The Judoon wore their environment-suit armour in order to arrest the two individuals- six, if you counted all their heads- within suite seven. All the human children that had been taken were rescued from small, cramped holding cells- more like packing crates, Jack thought with disgust- that had been filled with breathable air.

They couldn't be sent back to Earth, but the Doctor made arrangements for them to be taken in on a nearby world where the people looked human enough, and he apparently had some friends in that world's government who owed him. Thus effectively rescuing them, not only from the 456, but also from the poor lives they would have led if they had been returned to that terrible, run-down orphanage they had originally been taken from, on Earth.

Jack took great moral satisfaction in personally helping to ensure these children's futures... and felt an equal level of malicious glee, when the Judoon declared the 456 deserving of lifetime incarceration on Hadante, one of the less-pleasant prison moons of the Justicia system.

All in all, a very productive day's work... made all the more pleasant by an invitation to join Chiron in her private quarters that evening. Thessian biology was enviable, to say the least.

x x x


	5. Divergence

x x x

_"You never heard me break your heart,_  
><em>You didn't wake up when we died.<em>  
><em>Since I was lonely from the start,<em>  
><em>I think the end is mine to write."<em>

_-September, Cry For You._

x x x

**Chapter 5: Divergence**

x x x

"So you know where he is?" the Master asked idly, watching the other- flawed- clones worked on manipulating the star.

The traitor in the red jacket was sitting on the floor, bound by handcuffs, and watching as if he thought _he_ was the one who was in control here. "Why do you ask?"

"You were the one wearing the freak's coat, earlier." he hissed, "And I can smell him all over you, it's disgusting."

"Worth it, though. He's good at what he does." the traitor pointed out, unrepentantly, "And yes, I know where he is. Somewhere orbiting Earth. Problem is the when."

The Master rolled his eyes, "Are you talking about the freak, or the Doctor?" The original question had been about the Doctor.

"Both." A violent spark of electricity from one of the consoles the scientists were working at made them both jump, and the traitor yelled at them, "Oi, watch it! You want to get us all blown up?"

The Master struck him across the face, "I am the one who gives the orders. And the threats."

"So I see." the traitor said with a bit of a leer. It made the Master nauseous, and he quickly retreated to pace at the far side of the room.

"When are they, then?" he demanded.

"Hmm, 'bout half a decade ago. That's when Jack said it happened."

"It?" the Master demanded, not wanting to admit to his confusion.

"It." the traitor grinned, "Oh, you don't want the details. Captain Jack's involved, remember?"

He rolled his eyes in exasperation, "You sicken me."

"I _am_ you."

The Master spluttered in indignant rage, and was seriously considering just executing this one. Except he was a useful source of information... he knew what the Doctor was up to, even if he hadn't admitted as much, yet.

"Systems ready, Master." one of the scientists said, interrupting the staring contest that was beginning between the currently homicidal Master and the infernally cheerful traitor.

He turned sharply to face them, "Then do it!" he ordered, "Open up the nuclear bolt. Infuse the power lines to maximum."

"I still think this is a Very Bad Idea." the traitor pointed out brightly.

The scientists immediately set about doing precisely as they were ordered. "Nuclear bolt accelerating, sir." one of them reported. Obedient little minions, probably had it beaten into them by Naismith when they were still human.

"Send the signal back, and the link becomes a pathway." He carefully placed the Whitepoint star in the device they- _he_- had designed to hold it. It lit up with a brilliant white light, and the sound of the drumbeat echoed electronically through the room.

"Well, now you've done it." the traitor muttered.

"Silence!" formerly-Joshua snapped. The Master himself was too busy listening and searching for the source, as their- _his_- device effectively tried to call back to the original sender.

"If only." the traitor grumbled with a dour tone that suggested they were all doomed.

The Master honestly couldn't bring himself to care, even if he had trusted the traitor. He needed to know who had done this to him, why and how this sound had been inflicted upon him. He didn't care if it did kill him... if it did destroy the universe, or even time itself.

He had to know.

x x x

"The vote is taken. Only two stand against, and will stand as monument to their shame, like the Weeping Angels of old. And the vanguard stands prepared, as the children of Gallifrey return to the universe. To Earth!"

She listened with tired resentment, but could feel no anger for him as he decreed the doom of an entire planet, for his own will.

Even with her eyes closed and hidden, the light was blinding as the path opened before them. And then with a sweeping wind, they were drawn through the pathway to the Earth.

Silence reigned, until a rather droll voice deadpanned, "That's it, we're dead. I would say it was nice knowing you, but... honestly, it wasn't."

She dared peer through her fingers to see the source of the voice sitting in restraints, against a nearby wall. Everyone in the room was identical, wearing the new face and old mind of one she had once known well.

"Lord Master." the Lord President said, approaching the clear leader of the group of them. The only one who had always been a Time Lord. He sounded quite amused by his scheme's fruition, and she idly considered the Master's history as child's-play in comparison, "It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child."

A rogue thought- entirely human, yet emanating from one of the copies- flitted through all their minds, and all turned as one to stare at the man in restraints, "Oops, did I think that out loud?" he asked, grinning darkly.

"I really should have just executed that one." the Master complained, clutching one hand to his head as if that thought was literally painful. While primitive, it still failed to offend any of the elder Time Lords the way it appeared to upset the Master.

"Aww, but you're just too narcissistic, aren't you?" the one in restraints crowed cheerfully. "Didn't you have a plan? Or was that just bullshitting?"

"Don't you _dare_ compare my carefully laid out evil schemes to bovine excrement, you insignificant broken clone!" the Master snarled in a rage.

The prisoner chuckled at this.

"I grow tired of this game." the Lord President said darkly, and raised his left hand. She immediately covered her eyes properly, as the energy built and the Master protested in impotent outrage.

"Oh, that's better." a new voice said, "Your body's so... limited. Even if I already kinda miss the brainpower."

She cautiously peered through her fingers once more, to see that all the humans had been restored. The one who was restrained, to the eyes appeared older now, but still young and arrogant. And not quite the same as the other humans. He seemed to understand what had just happened. The others were simply confused and afraid.

"On your knees, mankind." the President commanded, and through fear and empathic compulsion they obeyed.

Except for the prisoner. He laughed. "Now you're speaking my language!" His thoughts were still clear as crystal, and just as clearly offensive to the Master, who grumbled threats of gruesome deaths under his breath, while glowering darkly at the human.

But then he turned to the President, clearly afraid also, "You said salvation, right? So I saved you." he said with forced and false confidence in his tone.

The President was not listening, however. She could feel it, as well, as he announced for all to hear, "The approach begins."

The Master showed confusion, "Approach of what?"

"I warned you bad things. You didn't listen." the human prisoner said idly, staring at the glass roof, where the President's gaze had turned. "Told you to make three backup plans. I only noticed one. Sloppy, that."

"Well _someone _ talked through my attempt at an evil overlord monologue, you unnecessarily observant ape!"

"Never do the monologue." the human said with an exasperated sigh, "Just do the plan. That way you take them by surprise. Like blowing up their city when they think you just want to murder their boss. Looks on their faces, oh that was a fun day."

That distracted not only the Master, but also the President. They were all staring at him, now. Even she and her condemned companion were watching him with overt interest.

"You blew up a city?" the Master was the one to ask.

"Well, half of one." the prisoner admitted, "It was the principle of the matter. Dramatic statement." He looked around, feigning innocence as he asked blankly, "What?"

Then the roaring from above and the trembling of the ground drew their attentions back to the sky above. Gallifrey was appearing above the Earth... close enough for their atmospheres to brush against one another. It was both awe-inspiring and terrifying at once.

"That's-!" the Master stumbled over his own words, "No! No, that's impossible!"

"Planet in the sky... how original." the human sniped with a surprisingly honest degree of sarcasm, followed closely by a deliberate yawn. He was mocking them. Or perhaps, more accurately, he was mocking the President, as he seemed not even to have noticed her, her companion, or their guards.

The humans in the room were fleeing, as well now. All but the prisoner, who merely pulled himself to his feet slowly, still watching Gallifrey overhead, without much awe, nor any respect. In fact, he looked mildly bored.

The Master was desperate to earn favour, however, "This was me. I did this! I'm on your side!" he cried out to the President.

"Yeah. A pawn." the prisoner observed snidely, adding in a low mutter, "Dumbass."

"But this is fantastic, isn't it?" the Master insisted, "The Time Lords restored."

"War changes people... the Time War infinitely more so." the human- the only one left in the room now- said. It sounded like he was quoting someone else. "I don't know about wise, but it was a very clever man told me that. Why else do you think I ran from you, Master?"

The Master considered these words carefully, slowly turning to look at the human with much more care. But before he could come to any conclusion, the President spoke again, "We will initiate the final sanction. The end of time will come, at my hand."

"I can't get enough of that line, y'know." the human prisoner said with a smirk.

The President ignored him completely. "The rupture will continue until it rips the time vortex apart."

"That's suicide." the Master said sharply.

"We will ascend... to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies. Free of time, and cause and effect... while creation itself ceases to be."

"Oh this just gets better and better." the human muttered, idly examining his own fingernails as if this was not of any real concern to him.

The Master, however, understood the dangers, and attempted once more to command the President, "Then... take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory."

"I dated a woman named Glory, once." the human said idly, "Now _she_ made you lot look sane. Bloody genius, mind. Aren't they all, huh, Master?"

"You will desist with these interruptions." the President commanded him.

"Am I interrupting?" the human asked, feigning innocence with surprising ease, "Sorry, I thought my opinions were perfectly valid. I mean, this whole thing is downright insane, you know that, right?" He waved vaguely at the Master, with his bound hands, "And I'm not just talking about nut-job over here, I mean you as well. Lord President, is it? Of what, megalomaniacs anonymous? Can I join? I've always wanted to try my hand at world domination."

"Oh, shut up!" the Master snapped, as the President glared at the human.

But before either had the opportunity to respond, an unfamiliar beeping sound started, emanating from a wristband the human wore... and his eyes lit up with glee as he heard it. "Oh, do you hear that?" he asked, stepping forward now, behind the Master.

"I order you to desist." the President snapped, anger beginning to fray the edges of his authority.

"But you hear this, d'you know what _this_ means?" the human crowed with pride. None of them knew, but no Time Lord would dare admit that. "It means- to use an old Earth analogy I always kinda liked- that a butterfly flapped its wings somewhere out there, forty-four years, three months and nineteen days ago... to the second..." the beeping was getting faster, more urgent, and he threw his arms over the Master's head, so as to grab a hold of him across the chest in spite of his wrists being bound. "Now here comes the storm!"

He pressed a button, and in a flash of reddish light they both disappeared.

She felt a wave of time rise up around them. This must be what the device had been warning the human of. As he suggested in such elegantly metaphoric terms, a small change had been made to history. This timeline was unravelling, falling apart around them... and quite suddenly the link snapped, throwing them all back into the Time War, once more.

Back where they belonged. To the fate that they had brought upon themselves, and rightly deserved.

x x x

The Master struggled against the traitor's grip, and as soon as they landed, he threw the human off him. Then he looked around. They were in a small abandoned pub-like building that reeked of death. He didn't have time to properly get his bearings, though.

Hadn't even the time to guess what planet he was on... because a second later, the TARDIS materialised before him.

She was in one of her 'chariot of a god' moods, all glowing with inner light, and generally showing off. The Doctor must be feeling righteous and proud of himself, then. Probably ready to gloat, even. He _had_ just won, hadn't he? This _had_ all been the Doctor's plan, right from the beginning, hadn't it?

The door opened, and out stepped the Doctor, closely followed by four humans. Three, he recognised on sight.

"This is the original one?" Martha Jones asked. The Doctor nodded, and she promptly slapped him hard across the face.

The freak, Harkness, was next. The Master was utterly mortified to find no violence forthcoming, however. No, the freak's assault was much more offensive to him. Harkness grabbed both sides of his face, and kissed him firmly on the lips.

The Master bit, hard, drawing blood. Mmm, sweet, nutritious blood. He tried to bite again, wanting to rip off flesh this time, but Harkness backed away before he could do so, grinning a bit smugly.

"He spent a whole hour trying to decide on the best way to wound you, and you just ruined it." the Doctor laughed.

"Not ruined at all. I've played worse with him." the traitor behind the Master said far too cheerfully, and Harkness nodded with a smug grin, completely unconcerned with his minor injury. In fact, he had the nerve to lick the blood off his lips, as if trying to taunt the Master's unnatural hunger. Assuming he even knew of it... but either way, it was working.

"Sick freak." the Master growled, looking around for an escape route, only to find himself surrounded. "And you're just as bad, traitor."

"Can't betray someone I was never loyal to to begin with. And my name is John Hart." the Master looked to see a far too smug grin on his face, "Oh, and about the saving your life thing... you're welcome."

x x x

The Vinvocci and their ship had disappeared. Clearly timelines had made it so they never came here. The small group who remembered were now gathered in the Doctor's TARDIS, recuperating.

The Master had been properly restrained, and was currently tied to the solitary chair in the control room. Jack was using the console to check Torchwood records, to see what difference their changes had made. Martha and Wilf were standing over near the door, trading stories about the Doctor.

This left Gwen, most unfortunately, in the company of John Hart.

"So what was it like, being him?" she asked, eyeing the Master warily as the Doctor chatted amicably and the Master ignored him quite avidly.

"Intense." John said distantly, "It's... sort of fading, already. Like a dream. Some bits still stand out, though." he looked up at Jack with a leer. Jack noticed it, but pretended not to. "There's something super-human about his brain, though. Like if I remembered everything, my head might explode." John continued idly, "Right, Doctor?"

"Shut it." the Doctor said with a glare. Wilf looked upset, but Gwen couldn't tell why.

"Very little has changed." Jack observed, from his vantage point at one of the TARDIS monitors. Gwen looked up to see him smiling faintly, "Just the obvious."

"Which is?" Gwen asked hopefully.

"Well..." Jack said, cheerfully, "Clement MacDonald never did go mad over the last forty years. Instead, he owns a small business dealing in unusual antiques. He's on our records, somewhere a few steps up from the likes of Henry Parker."

Gwen grinned at this news. It was wonderful, and brought tears to her eyes. She remembered seeing Clem die, right in front of her, and there had been nothing she could do. It made her heart skip to think that what they'd done had prevented that from ever happening, even if she did remember it.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up to see Martha smiling at her.

"I know that name!" Wilf said, eyes widening with realisation, "I remember... oh, that's odd."

"New information filters through, when time changes. If you're in the time-stream when the change happens, you never remember the original timeline. Takes a while for a time-traveller to recognise." the Doctor said, giving Wilf a faint smile, "You're pretty quick on the uptake, you are."

"He's part of my silver cloak group!" Wilf explained, seeming quite stunned at this _new_ information that had somehow always been, "Scottish fella. Always could sniff out a real alien artefact from the phonies, that one."

Jack laughed at his choice of words, and Gwen chuckled, "I'll bet!" she cheered brightly, before descending into giggles.

John raised an eyebrow at her, "You'd think you lot had never heard of a paradox ripple effect before."

The Master looked right at him, and said bluntly, "They probably haven't."

"And that week in September." Jack said quietly. He looked up, eyes alight but shining with tears. Gwen had never seen him look so _happy_ before. "Never happened."

x x x

**The End**

**Author's Note**: No, no epilogue. The next thing to happen here is to start a new series of each show... and this is meant to be a short-story. No, I'm not writing these alternate series', I've already got three epic projects going, plus real life. If anyone else wants to write it, though, I would love to read it.

Especially an AU of Miracle Day, with no Children of Earth before it. Now that could be a lot of fun. Okay, so there's a very slight one in a million chance I might change my mind and write that one... but don't hold your breath.


End file.
